1. Wet at some point of the year

2. Have hydric soils (different from adjacent uplands)

3. Support hydrophytic vegetation => wetland indicator species

1. Test the soil to see if it is hydric
2. Identify plants => see if they are wetland indicator species
3. See if the site is wet at least once/year

• Soil fouind in wetlands
• Soil is formed by water/alluvial processes
• Different soil compared to adjacent uplands
• Hydric soils become anoxic when they are wet

• Does not have oxygen available to plants/invertebrates
• Hydric soils become anoxic when they are wet

• Vegetation that is faculatively or obligately associated with wetland conditions
• Known as wetland indicator species
• E.g.: cattails and bulrushes

1. Bogs
2. Marshes
3. Swamps
4. Fens

• Stagnant and acidic water
• Surface water depression wetlands (rain fed)
• Low-nonexistent water flow

• Non-woody plants
• "Open" system fed by rivers/streams

• Woody plants: trees and shrubs
• "open" system fed by rivers/streams

1. water flow
2. vegetation type

• Recieve water from precipitation and surface flows
• Include: surface water slope and surface water depression wetlands

• Get their water from underground sources - the "water table" or subsurface aquifier
• Include: ground water slope and ground water depression wetlands

• The creation of habitat to compensate for habitat taken by a development of any kind
• Required by two agencies:
• Dept of Interior - US Fish and Wildlife Service (federal level)
• CA Dept of Fish and Game (state level)

• Replacement of anthropogenic habitat losses with artificially constructed wetland habitats
• Convert upland to new man-made wetland
• For each acre destroyed three or more must be created

Very high productivity (= rainforests)

Measured as grams of carbon fixed/square meter/year

• The riparian forests of the Sacramento Valley
• Only 1.5% remaining

1. Habitat degredation
2. Introduced species

• Drainage for crops
• Dredging for flood protection
• Filling in with soil for roads
• Construction of androo dams for flood control
• Discharge of hazardous materials
• Mining of wetlands

• Sediment diversion by dams, grazing, and channels
• Hydrological alterations by canals, roads, etc
• Subsidence due to extrication of groundwater, oil, etc

• Subsidence
• Natural rise of sea level
• Droughts
• Erosion
• Hurricanes
• Introduced species

1. Fish fauna
2. Type of bottom/substrate
3. Vegetation type/community
4. Vegetation along the gradient of wetland => upland
5. Water source (ground vs surface water)
6. Flow and nutrient quality of water
7. Zonation of vegetation

What is a lentic habitat?

• Nutrient rich
• Contains nitrate and orthophosphate => used by plants to stimulate vascular plant and algal growth

• Nutrient poor
• Often very cold, clear water
• Associated with high elevations
• Very low in nitrate/oligophosphate

1. (Upland) => 2-5 are wetland
2. Periodically (water) saturated
3. Permanently saturated
4. Periodically flooded
5. Permanently flooded
6. Open water (not wetland)

Zonation

Plants distributed along elevation gradient from within the water column => water's edge => upland habitats

Pond-like

1. Emergent vegetation (upper plant bodies extend above water's surface)
2. Floating leaf vegetation (roots attached to the bottom, leaves float on surface)
3. Submergent vegetation (not emerging from water's surface)

• Limited by water depth
• Need to photosynthesize and pollinate
• Need to establish roots and reach photic zone where they can photosynthesize

• Grows along rivers and streams (lotic systems)
• Does not grow around lakes and reservoirs (esp at lakes in high elevations)
• Riparian vegetation holds and purifies water => holds it and releases it slowly

1. Meanders - bends in a river
2. Pools - still, deeper areas
3. Riffles - shallow, fast flowing areas

• Erosion occurs on outside of bend
• Also occurs where head waters and small tributaries come together at high elevation
• Deposition occurs on the inside of bend forming point bars of gravel and sand

1. Zone of erosion of sediments - where head waters and small tributaries come together at high elevation
2. Zone of storage and transport of sediments
3. Zone of deposition of sediments

• High in O₂ in higher elevations near source, water is fast, cold and nutrient poor
• Low in O₂ in lower elevations, water slows down , becomes warmer, and more nutrient rich

1. Youth: characterized by downcutting and a V-shped valley
2. Maturity: Once stream has lowered its gradient, it begins to erode laterally => produces a wide vally
3. Old age: Valley ahs become cut several times wider than the meander belt

• Formed when stream deposits block off a meander and thus isolating it as a crescent shaped remnant of the river bend
• May only get filled during floods
• Eventually the oxbow lake will fill in creating a meander scar.

• A flood from a water source onto normally dry land
• Usually occurs seasonally

Contrast natural vs artificial channels.

(Water temp, plant shading, leaf input, water depth, pool/riffle sequence, water speed)

• Water temp:
• Natural: suitable
• Artificial: Increased
• Plant shading:
• Natural: Good cover for fish
• Artificial: No shading
• Leaf input:
• Natural: Abundant
• Artificial: Reduced
• Water depth:
• Natural: sufficient to support life during dry season
• Artificial: Insufficient during dry season
• Pool-Riffle Sequence:
• Natural: Pools and riffles - sorted gravels provide habitats
• Artificial: Mostly riffle - unsorted gravels => habitat loss
• Water speed:
• Natural: Diversified => good for life
• Fast => bad for life (no resting places)

• A loss of fine grain particles that are required for fish to make nests
• Occurs in artificial channels